Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Modern economic growth -- Modern economic growth -- Economic determinism and the twentieth-century experience -- The general and the particular in modern economic growth -- Agrarian societies and capitalism -- Traditional agrarian society -- A different path -- The phenomenon of antiquity -- Capitalism and the rise of Europe -- The trajectory of Russia's development -- Particular features of Russia's economic development -- The collapse of an empire -- Major issues of the postindustrial world -- The post-socialist crisis and recovery growth -- The dynamics of population and international migration -- The state burden on the economy -- The formation and crisis of systems of social safeguards -- The evolution of education and healthcare systems -- The transformation of the system for manning the armed forces -- On the stability and flexibility of political systems -- Epilogue -- Bibliographical references -- Index.